The online publication, Spotlight Zimbabwe, which is reported to have links to Zimbabwe’s Military Intelligence Directive (MID) has released an alleged list of possible key members who will lead the country after the departure of President Emmerson Mnangagwa.

Spotlight Zimbabwe has written a series of articles alleging that Mnangagwa is on his way out and that it is now a matter of time as he has fallen out with the military over the economy. While the claims seem fantastic, it’s difficult to dismiss the claims as mere wishful thinking as the publication correctly wrote about the November 2017 military coup against former President Robert Mugabe.

We publish the report in its entirety below,

Spotlight Zimbabwe, has received a leaked list of possible key members of a post-President Emmerson Mnangagwa government, expected to take the reins in Harare within the coming 12 months, after Mnangagwa, inevitably departs from office.

According to military intelligence sources, an army faction backing Vice President, Rtd General Constantino Chiwenga, has resolved to making Chiwenga the country’s president once he fully recovers from his health situation. In another interesting development, Chiwenga’s security services allies also now want the ailing VP to pick Rtd Air Chief Marshall, Perence Shiri, as one of his vice presidents, for his loyalty to Chiwenga and unwavering support during the November 2017 Operation Restore Legacy, which resulted in former leader, President Robert Mugabe, being ousted from power through a military putsch.

In perhaps an unintended tacit admission and confirmation that Chiwenga should be the rightful president, who only passed on the presidency to Mnangagwa, Shiri, last year shocked farmers during an agricultural tour in Mashonaland West, where he praised the VP for not seizing power but following due procedure during Operation Restore Legacy.
“General Chiwenga is the person who orchastrated Operation Restore Legacy. He is a principled man who does things in honesty,” said Shiri. “If it was someone else, he could have taken over power, declaring that he was in charge. There was nothing that could have stopped him since he was in charge of the army. General Chiwenga is a person who is politically mature and with the people and country at heart. Due to political orientation, he understood that hove huru dzinofamba nemurongwa (leadership renewal follows laid down procedures). As a result, the party chose President Emmerson Mnangagwa to lead the party, while VP Chiwenga wanted to return to the barracks. However, President Mnangagwa appointed him Vice President and second secretary of the ruling Zanu PF party”

Spotlight Zimbabwe, can also today report and confirm, that former cabinet minister in Mugabe’s government, Saviour Kasukuwere, is being courted by the army to become the ruling Zanu PF presidential candidate in 2023. The military is said to be pushing for a civilian figurehead president once the post-Mnangagwa administartion tenure ends, who is likely to be deputised by a high ranking general, in this case possibly the current Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) Commander, General Phililp Valerio Sibanda.

Below is the leaked list of the incoming 2020 government obtained a fortnight ago: